Decending From Madness
by so.cordial.so.rotten
Summary: Pandora Riddle has gone mad with hate and power. Her whole life she had been shipped from orphanage to asylum. Now she has escaped and is on raging rampage to kill the man that did this to her. Until she meets George Weasley with a kind, shattered heart.
1. In Which I Get My Wand

Reality.

I don't see much of it anymore, just bits and pieces that flash between fragmented memories and broken dreams. I see people driven insane here, it's grungy white walls, and nurses with uniforms too short to be regulation. I hate it, every inch of this infernal place.

He did this to me. I'm here because of him. That beastly and lurid man is the reason I am marked, the reason I disgust others. The death mark upon my pale, ghostly skin frightens the staff at St. Joseph's asylum.

But still they all laugh at me, ever since I stuck that blasted stick in their faces and threatened to curse them all to hell and back. I walk the halls in my white dressing gown and even the absurdly insane patients snicker.

"Tried to get 'em with a stick she did."

"They snapped it in two, I hear."

I personally don't believe what those nutters have to say. I know why I'm here and I know that I shouldn't be. I will escape, I will find my father, and I will seek my revenge. He'll be sorry that he knocked up what ever whore he felt like, and thought it wouldn't bite him right up the arse. I shall strike tonight, find my wand and be rid of these mad muggles forever more.

"Good evening Miss Riddle. How are we this evening?" a kind looking nurse rolled the medicine trolley around to the side of my white bed in my white room. Even in the evening, what little light there was reflected off the glossy paint, giving me an infuriating headache.

"As well as can be expected," I rubbed my forehead with the back of my hand and squinted up at the nurse.

"Headaches again my dear? Take some of this," she passed my a small cup with two aspirin, "Do you need anything else Miss Riddle?"

"Arsenic," I stated grimly. The nurse quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Been into Doctor Larson's library again? A Rose for Emily by Falukner if I'm not mistaken." I gave a curt nod to the nurse. She smiled slightly, "I don't see why all those other institutions couldn't hold you, you seem to be a kind and intelligent young woman." At her words I tried my best to push tears from my eyes.

"What's the matter dearie?" she sat down on my bed next to me and began to stroke my hair gently.

"M-my s-s-stick ma'm they t-took it and b-broke it," I said through dramatic chokes.

"Well if I tell you this you must not say anything about my interference, alright?" She gave another small smile when she caught my eye. "I know for a fact that all of your belongings including your little stick are in the main filing room, number 159 I believe. You see they didn't do anything but keep it safe. Well you have a good night sweetie," she left with her medicine trolley in the same fashion in which she entered, full of blithe and merriment.

That was the only woman that had ever been kind to me, Nurse Cohen, I think that was her name. I hadn't really kept track from the orphanages to asylums. All the nuns and nurses and doctors. I never really stayed in one place for to long, if I couldn't help it. I would just explode, be considered to dangerous to keep, and be shipped off, in that horrid jacket, to the next place that would keep me.

But tonight I would escape that vicious cycle, I would be my only boss, I would be free. As much as I enjoyed Nurse Cohen's company, what I adored more was her easy manipulation. She had told me the one tiny bit of information I needed to know: the location of my wand. Finally I would be rid of this place.

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At exactly midnight I stood in front of room 159. The cold floor stealing all the warmth from my toes with every passing second. I looked through the frosted glass, past the large black numbers, but couldn't see even a speck. The door was obviously locked; I pulled a large hairpin from my dark hair letting it fall over my shoulders and down my back. After popping of the plastic nubs on the ends I carefully fit the pin into the lock and giggled it gently up and down waiting for a click.

I never knew that picking a lock could be so difficult. It took me nearly ten minutes before I was successful. The heavy door creaked as I opened it slowly, in hope not to wake mister Campbell who I was one of the madder inhabitants of St. Joseph's. The walls were lined with file cabinets. I scurried over to the Ra through Ru files and searched for my name. Riddle, Pandora Enid. Inside my file drawer was my wand in a plastic bag, countless amounts of paperwork, a worn set of clothes, and a broach: ivory carved into a snake wrapped around a thin streamlined dog. Paper clipped to the top of my paper files was a photograph of a large house, from the looks a manor. The pure white peacocks were strutting around under the photo's glossy finish occasionally looking up at me. I scoffed at the sight of the ridiculous looking birds.

I pulled off my white gown and dressed in the old jeans and t-shirt. A long robe had been stuffed in the very back of the drawer; I closed it tightly around my shoulders. The broach and photograph were stuffed into a pocket and, with my wand in hand, I closed the door of the filing room behind me. In the window of the door across the hallway a stout man with wild white hair stood staring at me. Mister Campbell gave a large toothy smirk and opened the door. His expression sent a shiver up my legs; he looked like a murderer who had caught his victim.

"What do you think your doing Martha!" he shouted, "your not going anywhere," Mister Campbell was stuck in his past, he believed that the nurses, doctors, and other patients were people he knew in his younger days.

"Bugger off y'old coot," I hissed.

"MARTHA! Your not leaving! Your not leaving!" he shouted, his voice echoed through the halls. I shot off, only having hope that the nurses thought nothing of his outburst and sent him back to bed.


	2. Concerning an Unfortunate Accident

I sprinted through the darkened halls, when suddenly a sharp and piercing alarm sounded. That damn man had pulled the fire alarm. Ceiling sprinklers shot ice cold water from their spickets as the red flashing of alarms shot through the glass of the other rooms. The loud siren continued to blast. Chaos ensued.

The midnight shift nurses began running around into the rooms checking on patients. Most of the patients began the scream and wail, escaping from their rooms. Puddles gathered on the floor and both staff and crazies slid and fell everywhere.

"All patients please return to your rooms," A strong, loud voice came over the intercom, "could a janitor please shut off the--" Doctor Hill's announcements were drowned out by the screaming of Screeching Sally, a girl who never spoke but would periodically scream at passersby. People swarmed around me but not one idiot seemed to notice that I was just standing there letting the water wash over me. I felt as if I were being washed from a muggle existence. With my dressing gown no longer a symbol of my captivity.

Nurse Cohen ran by but stopped and spun around. "Miss Riddle what are you doing--" she stopped when she sighted my wand in my hand. "What did you do?"

"I haven't done anything," I snapped over the alarm, I looked over at the curtain that were drawn over the monstrous sized windows. "Incendio!" I bellowed and the curtains caught fire, "Now I have," I shouted over the noise at Nurse Cohen. She looked stunned as I took off, pushing through the crowd.

The main halls were completely empty of people. The sprinklers continued to release the frigged water. My clothes clung to my body and my hair, weighted down by water, stuck to the back of my neck and my face. I closed my eyes only for a moment and pain shot across my forehead and chest. Slipping in a puddle I landed face first, slid across the soaked carpet and stayed there curled up in a ball. I needed something to make it stop, I squinted up through the pain and spotted the medicine locker behind a nurses station. I crawled over puddles and dove over the counter. At that very moment a voice echoed, almost drowning out by the sprinklers, through the hall.

"Miss Riddle! Pandora Riddle! Get over here now you nasty little witch," Peering around the corner I saw Nurse Cohen brandishing a dark colored wand. "Come out, come out where ever you are my little beastie." She quickly turned the corner out of sight. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding and quickly went to work on opening the locker.

"Alohomora," the dial spun, right, left, right, and the door popped open. I grabbed a bottle of aspirin and a few bottles of pain killers and hid them in my cloak. As I went to close the locker someone tapped me on the shoulder. I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Mister Campbell!" I hissed, "What the bloody hell are you doing!"

"Your not leaving Martha!" he shrieked.

"I'm not Martha!" I glared and covered his mouth with my hand. Realizing his lack of oxygen he bit the inside of my palm drawing blood. I pulled my hand into my cloak squeezing it tightly.

"NURSE! NURSE!" he continued to shriek. And back around the corner came Nurse Cohen. My eyes widened.

"There you are dearie!" the nurse purred, "now let's get you back to your room, after all the trouble you've caused tonight," she chided.

"I don't think so ma'm, I not going anywhere but out those front doors," I smirked back at her.

"Don't make me use the Imperius curse on you young lady!" she held up her wand threateningly.

"Too bad you won't be able to move your arm," I said still smirking, my self-taught magic flooding back to me as I stood there staring the nurse down.

"And why would that be?" She cocked her head to the right.

"You'll be dead, Avada Kedavra!" the nurse fell to the floor with a wet thud. Mister Campbell looked at me in awe, his jaw could have hit the floor.

"You killed her. _You killed her!_ You devil child!" He dove at me with wide arms but I quickly punched him squarely in the chest. A breath escaped his lips and he fell to the floor twitching violently.

"Serves you right old man," I spat at his twitching body. With my only belongings I ran down the last hall and out the double doors. The sweet late autumn wind hit me in a gust and blew my hair out behind me. As sweet as it was the wind had a cold bite to it; I wasn't able to feel much of my naked toes. I looked at the chaotic building, people running in the windows. I stopped and thought of all of them laughing at me. Now they can feel what it's like. I pointed my wand out in from of me and casted a fiendfyre curse quickly through the door. I saw the fire whip up through the building, I began to run, I heard screaming, but I kept running. Fire engines flew passed in the dark, their lights flashing, their sirens blaring. I squeezed my throbbing hand tightly to my chest.

I couldn't help but laugh. I monstrous cackle erupted from my mouth. It was over I would never have to go back, never. I was free. My long plotted revenge was now in action. Now all I had to do was find a man I had never met. The only clues I had was a strange broach and a picture of a house. I always did find posed challenges an interesting kind of fun.


End file.
